Hala Restaurants, Istanbul, Turkey

Hala has village women in the front window rolling out thin dough with broomstick rolling pins as you watch.

The dough is then baked into paper-thin lavas (lah-VAHSH) bread, or used to make traditional country dishes such as mantı (mahn-TUH), a Turkish ravioli served with a light yogurt sauce. It's authentic and delicious, which is why most of the patrons here are locals, not tourists.

The flat dough is also used to make gözleme, thin dough folded over various ingredients, then baked on the griddle.

You can get full meat meals here, but most people have soup, gözleme or manti and ayran (the refreshing yogurt drink).

There's a Hala on Istiklal Caddesi and another a few blocks away on Çukurlu Çesme Sokak (around the corner at the far end of Büyükparmakkapi Sokak)(map).

Hala
Istiklal Caddesi No 137a (at Turnacibasi Sokak), Beyoglu, Istanbul
also...
Çukurlu Çesme Sokak at Büyükparmakkapi Sokak, Beyoglu, Istanbul

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Hala Restaurant, Beyoglu, Istanbul, Turkey

Above, Hala on Istiklal Caddesi. Below, a cook rolls out the dough and bakes it into paper-thin lavaş bread on a griddle.